Simply Faithful: Storms you can’t hide from

One of my earliest memories is of Daddy lifting me out of bed and carrying me through the rain and the wind to the storm shelter in our back yard.

Our shelter was nice by most standards. We had electricity, benches and blankets. And Mama, always the planner, made sure we had fresh food and drinks down there during tornado season.

I’m sure I was scared at times, but mainly I remember the feeling of nervous excitement. Even though the storms were tremendous, I knew I was safe underground. I knew even if a tornado sucked the wheat and the barns from the Oklahoma fields, it would pass over me.

But the truth is, now I know about storms you can’t hide from. Storms you must face in order to make it through.

My friend Carol-Beth Scott faced a storm like that when she discovered her two sons had been sexually assaulted by a teenager in their church youth group. She searched everywhere for an example of a family that had made it safely through the storm — a family that had survived and thrived and could tell her what they had done to heal. But there was nothing she could find. Nothing that offered faith and hope.

In August, that all changes.

In August her book releases.

In August, parents can look through the pages of “Not Destroyed Family” and find the hope, the courage and the tools they need to help their children.

This book that the two of us worked on together can only help people if they know about it, though, and that’s where we could use your help. Will you tell your friends who are hurting? Could you mention it to your pediatrician or to the police officer at your church?

We would appreciate it — and I have to believe so would all those families looking for shelter in this storm.

Thank you for all that you can do.

— Marketta Gregory is a former religion reporter who can’t stop writing about what is sacred and holy. She is a native of Oklahoma but makes her home in Rochester, New York, with her husband, two crazy boys and one very vocal Pomeranian. Find more of her writing at SimplyFaithful.com or check out her book, “Simply Faithful: Finding the Sacred in Everyday Life.”